Letters, April 2

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/04/2025 (361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Encouraging message

Re: Standing with Canada (Think Tank, March 29)

A touching testimony by Charles Kyte (a U.S. resident) is shared with us in the Think Tank section of the Free Press. In my opinion it is a must-read article as it addresses the reasons tensions that have emerged between Canada and the United States.

Mr. Kyte articulates the numerous events where Canada and the U.S. have stood side by side in co-operation during the last century: the two world wars, the 9/11 attack on the U.S., conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and numerous trade agreements. Canada is vital to the U.S. economy by supplying key materials that support American manufacturing.

Suddenly Canada has become a victim of diatribes and disrespectful comments from Donald Trump and his billionaire supporters. We don’t deserve this. It is heart-warming to read from an American resident that annexation will never happen.

Although Mr. Kyte resides in the United States, he has a deep appreciation of what Canada stands for and I thank him for his kind comments about our country. I believe millions of American citizens have the same opinion as Mr. Kyte. It is always interesting to see from which state American visitors come from.

We have enjoyed numerous trips south of the border to our favourite baseball stadium and warmer climate. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and we can plan further trips to the U.S.

Denis Gautron

Winnipeg

Alternate proposal

Please consider this counter proposal to U.S. President Donald Trump’s possible annexation of Canada.

Our beloved country, huge, multicultural, and majestic, will happily subsume the U.S.A. as another province, or series of provinces. More evolved and progressive, we already provide so much that people in the U.S.A. can only dream of — free universal health care, access to free, legal and safe abortion, no (or very few) mass shootings, cheap drugs, paid family leave that often exceeds one year, as well as parental leave, compassionate care leave if looking after a family member who is ill, union jobs, a huge country with lots of variation, from mountains to prairies to lakes to islands, great air quality (well, most of the time…), two national languages, much humility, peacekeepers, NATO member, great Charter with enshrined freedoms, natural resources. The list goes on and on. I feel like I’m writing a profile for Tinder, the countries edition. Really, we have been a great neighbour. Note the quaint British spelling of neighbour?

Net result? Prosperity, less anxiety, community, connection. Families will be far less anxious as their children will not be doing active shooter drills each day (I am a family therapist and cannot fathom the extent of the emotional wounds that this practice is doing). Parents can drop children off and go to their workplaces, not worrying that their jobs were taken away by an email the day before. Lots of room for houses, communities, and ideas. Hey, Professor Timothy Snyder is coming. He sees the writing on the wall — the wall that was not built by Mexico.

And lastly, thank you to the current U.S. president. because of his erratic behaviour and rhetoric and tariffs, he has done something that no one has been able to do for decades. He has united the country, pushed us to become emboldened and proud, out loud (we don’t usually do that kind of thing), and will likely help us usher in another, possibly majority, Liberal government, sparing Canadians from the Mini-Trump Conservative candidate.

Miriam Baron

Winnipeg

Discouraging travel

Canada should cancel all duty-free allowances for Canadians returning from the U.S. (only) until Trump’s term is finished. With the low Canadian dollar and the extra expense at the border, shopping and vacationing in the U.S. would no longer be worth it.

Hopefully the duty-free shops at the border would close and Canada could notch another hit on the American economy. The wealthy Canadian snowbirds who continue to support the American economy and stay for the better part of winter in the sunshine states will be forced to cough up duty, taxes and tariffs on their return to Canada. The money collected at the border will stay in Canada to benefit Canadians.

Of course, Canadians now have to register their trips to the U.S. for 30-plus day stays. And maybe Canada should limit the smaller border crossings to further discourage U.S. travel.

Barry Gillies

Île des Chênes

America’s dependency

Despite Trump’s claim the U.S. is totally self-sufficient and needs no imports, he is wrong. Maybe not so much wrong as simply being caught in a lie once again. The U.S. produces less than one per cent of the coffee beans it consumes. If the top 10 coffee-producing countries in the world could be influenced to slap exorbitant tariffs on their exports to the U.S., the American people would capitulate in spasms of caffeine withdrawal within weeks.

Incentives, provided by Canada, the European Union and hundreds of other nations affected negatively by U.S. trade policy, could take a variety of forms and would be costly but effective. Imagine ending these antics in a matter of weeks. It would save a long suffering ordeal at the hands of a bunch of flip-flopping lunatics in Washington, DC. who truly don’t understand the workings of world trade.

Coffee is just one obvious commodity to zero in on but another to be considered might be lithium. The world’s No. 1 producer is Australia and they are certainly great allies of Canada and the EU. The U.S. are way down the list of lithium producers at number seven, and the quality of their product is so poor it is virtually useless as a component in any high tech products. It’s quite possible 100 per cent of lithium consumed by the U.S. is imported.

Leaders of the world, decide on Trump’s Achilles heel and direct your arrows accordingly.

Peter Sarmatiuk

Winnipeg

Animal treatment an election issue

Last week, another shipment of horses departed Winnipeg International Airport for slaughter. Bill C-355, the bill created to end the live export of horses, has died on the order paper, and will need to be reintroduced in a future parliament for it to become the law. Until then, horses will continue to be crated and shipped overseas, to be killed for a delicacy. They are transported 28 hours without food, water, or rest.

It is devastating. Canadians were once so hopeful, when the Liberals committed in 2021 to ban this industry. Yet it’s now 2025 and the shipments are still leaving.

This is an election issue. When candidates come to your door to campaign, let them know this ban is still important to Canadians. Many politicians only know kitchen table issues — healthcare, taxes, and housing — so educate them and let them know you will be looking for a commitment to end live horse export and animal protection progress when you go to vote on April 28.

Danae Tonge

Winnipeg